


Lovelornity

by Lirazel



Category: Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-17
Updated: 2008-08-17
Packaged: 2017-10-29 00:06:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/313651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirazel/pseuds/Lirazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He tells himself it was a close thing, his escape from a life with Jo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lovelornity

It's easy to love Amy. She’s always delighted him, from the days when she mispronounced words and put on airs like a miniature duchess. She made him laugh, though he often had to disguise his laughter with coughs so as not to hurt her tender feelings. She adored him and it was easy to adore right back.

She still makes him laugh with her earnestness to prove herself grown-up and cultured, but there’s a vulnerability lurking there in her fierce desire to be judged on her own merits, to break away from the shadow of Meg’s grace, Jo’s passion, Beth’s compassion, and he can’t help but respect that. It will be easy to be a good husband to her, to take pride in her golden beauty as she floats along on his arm—she’s the only March girl who feels comfortable at parties—to sit with her before the fire at night and talk, to shower her with the pretty, delicate things she so enjoys, to be a good father to their children. So easy. So very, very easy.

 

He tells himself it was a close thing, his escape from a life with Jo: he was so cursed lucky that she had the ~~fear~~ foresight to say no and keep both of them from ~~happiness~~ making a monumental mistake. Marrying Jo would have been a ~~dream~~ disaster. She would have been completely ~~perfect~~ unsuitable as Mrs. Lawrence, with her ~~enchanting~~ awkward ways and her habit of flying into ~~beautiful~~ tempers. Too passionate was ~~his~~ Jo, too given to speaking her ~~brilliant~~ mind. The parties and balls he ~~is forced~~ to likes to throw would have been ~~hilarious~~ massacres, with Jo offending ~~pompous, irritating~~ important people right and left. His ~~damned~~ reputation would have been ruined.

 

She would have cared not a fig for the ~~petty~~ lovely things his money could have given her; she would have insisted on running all around the world and getting into ~~adventures~~ scrapes. They would have had ~~glorious~~ horrific rows all the time and making up would have been a ~~joy~~ chore. He ~~yearns~~ shudders to imagine what their children would be like, their home ~~warm messy and alive~~ never quiet. He would never have to get a chance to rest, and he would have been ~~happy~~ miserable. Every day would have been ~~wonderful~~ difficult, a ~~gift~~ labor, never ~~boring~~ easy. He would never have been able to live ~~with~~ out her ~~marvelous~~ exhausting challenges.

 

Yes. Things have definitely turned out for the ~~worse~~ better.


End file.
